[LONDON] Huawei denied on Tuesday a Bloomberg report saying that mobile operator Vodafone had found so-called hidden "backdoors" in software provided in 2011 by the Chinese company.

Bloomberg reported that Vodafone found vulnerabilities in equipment provided by Huawei for its Italian business. Vodafone said security flaws had been found in 2011 and 2012 but said they were quickly fixed.

"There is absolutely no truth in the suggestion that Huawei conceals backdoors in its equipment," Huawei said in a statement, adding the Bloomberg story "refers to a maintenance and diagnostic function, common across the industry, as well as vulnerabilities, which were corrected over seven years ago."

REUTERS